I Can Change

Josephine Cachemaille uses ruminations on insecurity, anxiety and personal psychology to describe collective shared conditions and experiences. I Can Change demonstrates Cachemaille’s diverse practice; whether through figurative painting or three-dimensional work, she remains interested in the tensions between the personal and the universal, the individual and the collective.

Cachemaille’s amulets and talismans skeptically investigate the phenomenon of positive psychology and its profound influence on contemporary Western culture. These objects also reference superstition, folk magic and religion; they imitate voodoo objects, and allude to a Paganistic alignment with nature through the use of raw wood.

These effigies and small works create tension between what is domestic and familiar and what is abstract and alien. There is a crude, grungy quality to her works, which are often crafted from discarded objects and abandoned detritus—half-finished, handmade objects found in thrift stores and second-hand shops, the material evidence of abandoned dreams and forgotten aspirations.

Working in this context, Cachemaille references amateur, homemade creativity, and manual work with tangible materials. She describes “a raw honesty attached to these kinds of objects,” which she contrasts with the grandiose, self-serving visualisations encouraged through the cult of positive psychology. For Cachemaille, the idea of material wealth and good fortune being manifested by the universe is irrational, irresponsible and ultimately harmful.